The Popblerd Chart Report 9/29/11: Age Ain’t Nothin’ But A…

By debuting at #1 with Duets II, legendary crooner Tony Bennett sets a record-becoming the oldest living artist to score a number one album on Billboard’s Top 200 chart. At age 85, it’s hard to imagine anyone eclipsing that record anytime soon. Somewhat surprisingly, Duets II is also Bennett’s first-ever Number One album. You gotta love not only Bennett’s staying power, but also the fact that an artist like him, with no MTV or radio support, no publicity scandal or gimmick, can still sell records in this day and age with nothing but a great voice and a history of good music. Bless him.

Bennett’s arrival at pole position is one of many debuts in the upper echelon of the album chart this week. Only four albums remain in the Top Ten from last week…Lady Antebellum’s Own The Night at #2, Adele’s 21 (cruising towards the 4 million mark at #3), Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV at #5, and Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch The Throne in it’s seventh week in the Top 10 at #9. There are new arrivals from teen queen Demi Lovato (#4), Taylor Swift opening act Needtobreathe (#6), R&B teen group Mindless Behavior (#7), pop veteran Gavin DeGraw (#8) and Pearl Jam’s “Twenty” soundtrack at #10.

Not enjoying as great a debut: rock supergroup SuperHeavy. Amid savage reviews (including this one from us), their debut effort arrives at #26 with an anemic 18,000 copies sold. Considering four of the band’s five members (Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart, Joss Stone and Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley) have histories rich with Top Ten albums, this one’s gotta hurt just a bit. Tori Amos also seems to be falling off course a little bit, as her album Night of Hunters stumbles in at #24, also with about 18K sold. Of course, the difference between the two albums is that Tori’s latest work appears to be deliberately obtuse, and many of her casual fans aren’t going to take that plunge.

Over on the singles chart, Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera hold on for yet another week on top with “Moves Like Jagger”, even as Jagger himself isn’t faring too well on the charts. There’s not too much movement at the very top, but the noteworthy stats include LMFAO soaring fifteen rungs to #10 with their latest single “Sexy And I Know It”. Meanwhile, Rihanna (who has apparently never heard the word “vacation”) debuts on the entire Top 100 at #16 with the first single from her upcoming sixth album, “We Found Love”. How frequently does Ri-Ri release albums? Well, consider the fact that the Avril Lavigne-sampling sixth single from her last album, “Cheers (Drink To That)” is still moving up the chart, advancing 8-7 this week.

Folks have been sounding “jump the shark” alerts for “Glee” for some time now, and with the arrival of the show’s third season, it looks like the cast’s chart fortunes have dwindled as well. Even though they place a handful of songs from the season premiere on this week’s Hot 100, the highest-debuting of the bunch (a version of Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual”) lands at a meager #65. Considering just a year ago, there were “Glee” songs dotting the Top 20 (even the Top 10), this just might serve as a warning that the show may be running it’s course (and at lightning speed!)

Next week, rapper J. Cole will score a surprise #1 album, with estimates putting it at around 250,000 sold. Yet another feather in the cap of Jay-Z, who appears on the album and serves as Cole’s mentor. Returning rock band blink-182 will land at #2, while a high volume of new releases should energize the chart for sure. Here are this week’s Top 20 singles.